Drums: 1966 Ludwig Blue Sparkle Super Classic Ludwig Supraphonic 14 x 6.5 Snare Drum Zildjian 14" A New Beat HiHats Paiste 302 Plus Crash/Ride 20" Cymbal Amps Vox Heritage Collection AC30H2 30W 2x12 Handwired All Tube Guitar Combo Amp Roland KC-150 . Fender '65 Twin Reverb Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp . Fender FSR Blues Junior III Butterscotch . Pedais Dunlop JDF2 Fuzz Face Boss DD-20 Giga Delay Digital Delay Pedal MXR Dyna Comp Compressor M102 . Diamond Vibrato Pedal Boss BD-2 Blues Driver Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phase Shifter Effects Pedal . MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail Nano Reverb Guitar Effects Pedal . Empress Compressor Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Pedal Hotone Skyline Octa Octave Pedal . TC Helicon VoiceTone D1 Doubling Detune Pedal Boss Roland RE-20 Space Echo Pedal . Roland GR-55 Guitar Synthesizer Multi Effects Pedal Empress ParaEq . Synths Roland Juno-106 Synthesizer Compressores DBX 165A Compressor (drum compressor) . then I’m happy. He became obsessed. or bedroom DJs. Each track on a Tame Impala album is treated to a cleverly . So convincing is his act. “I’m usually thinking and doing so much I feel like I’m in a room full of different versions of myself. Taboo moves like plugging microphones into unbalanced laptop line inputs. I spend literally months on them. Story: Mark Davie Some kids create imaginary friends. I don’t feel a need to be as good as real professionals. David Fridmann. But even after the year-long solitary confinement in his bedroom that resulted in Tame Impala’s second album. plays guitar and keyboards. he one-upped his elder. realising he could dub the contents of the first onto this new device. It’s a ’70s revival sound that dovetails perfectly with his Lennon-like vocals and fuzzy guitar.” said Parker. he mostly means as a player. drumming especially. all having a big conversation about the next step. Then in the annoying way that younger siblings do. drums. he still admits it’s a game of trial and error. because if I enjoy listening back to it right there and then. And he records it all himself. “I do love the idea of getting an awesome drum sound. “There’s been no real structural change since then.” he said. and I just do them anyway. 12. but at the time it was the most “fantastical discovery”.” And it’s worth it.The story behind Tame Impala’s one-man production process. Perfecting the art of playing. and mixing them in the Tame Impala mode is like an addiction. Kevin Parker just replicated himself. all while adding a single-note Casio keyboard solo.” he continues. “If you tallied up the hours I spent on the drums for this album it would be ridiculous. there’s no distinguishing between the recorded ensemble constructed of versions of himself and a real live band. But it was amazing!” Said Parker. On the technical side. “I couldn’t even play for shit. could fix that one. he dug up another tape deck. His older brother had pioneered the way. Parker says he never actually gets lonely going about it the way he does. a one-man psych rock band in which he does the lot: sings. Not even psychedelic maharishi mixer.” His pet area is drums. The result was a completely out of phase vocal take. but inquisitive nonetheless. Lonerism. I’ve just slowly gotten better at it.” TECHNICAL TABOOS By ‘better’. In retrospect the genre-less minute of one-finger clunking wasn’t as spectacular as the young Parker thought. had no chance when summed to mono. Probably more time than the vocals. Not quite at the same level of proficiency on drums. not because he’d figured out how to dub. “It’s pretty egotistical now that I think about it!” THREE’S COMPANY The crux of Parker’s recording methodology was formed at an early age — 11. that unlike sample-based artists. Once he’d laid down a rudimentary backbeat. Parker is Tame Impala. “I’ve just gone blindly into the dark. recording. Parker followed suit. “There are so many things I don’t know. with the help of some makeshift jack adaptors sticky- taped together. recording tapes of himself playing drumbeats. “I still do things where a professional would have a heart attack. that while sounding trippy in ill-placed stereo speakers. but because he was jamming along with himself.” muses Parker. maybe — between the heads of two tape decks. he just turns it up. “If I’ve got the guitar down. You just have to do whatever you can to enjoy what you’re listening to while you’re doing it. Parker: “Our sound guy always says.” KICKING CONVENTION As for how he mics them up. ‘It’s not a very good mic to use. it’s so f**king loud that it doesn’t need to be compressed. The natural sound of a drum kit is so bad ass that it doesn’t need the effects when you track it. is top secret. he says. “If you’ve got it up loud enough in your headphones then the headphones are going to start distorting. When you’re in a room with a drum kit. and there’s a drum beat playing in my head. I think it might be a vocal mic or something.” When you’re recording on your own. The bulk of it is three mics. It’s basically a Rode K2 valve condenser (given to him by a friend that felt sorry for Parker’s mic collection) as a mono overhead. and Shure SM57s for kick and snare. But it works. “But that’s the thing. you just need to be feeling the groove. preferring instead to wait for inspiration to strike. Are you sure you don’t want to try something else that’s meant for a kick drum?’ But I just love that ‘bop bop’ sound of the kick. And while he draws the ire of engineers for using a 57 for the kick. it achieves exactly what he’s after. His fluid style works because he doesn’t track the drums first. or you have to endure it. especially when you’re trying to track energetic rhythm sections. I hate the kick drum sound that’s way too clicky. “I’m not even sure if you’re meant to use that as an overhead. which is what it’s all about. you’re not going to get the most expressive take. he wouldn’t give too much away. If it’s in any way annoying.constructed. even . Where he puts the snare mic. rather than committing to rigid rhythmic structure. then I’ll just go on the drums and try and play along to it until it sounds cool. emulating that feeling you get feeding off the energy of other musicians is the hardest part. though not in any Glyn Johns-style arrangement. and at the end of the day.” As for the K2. and perfectly fitting drum track. “I’ll do the drums when I start feeling inspired to do a drum beat.” he said. Though Parker doesn’t bother with elaborate monitor mixes.” said Parker. So you have to set up your environment so you’re in love with what you’re hearing as often as possible. he says. which gives you a kind of natural compression. rather than just a physical multi-track. but Parker started fooling around with it. naturally.” Too true. If I’m still hating it after that I’ll just lob it into the great sea of echo. I got it purely by chance. and either sits or stands. it sounds good. Take the drums. who has mixed both Tame Impala albums. and #4 in Australia. ‘full-sick.” For the most part he uses analogue synths.” IF IT’S GOOD. One of them is a dbx 165 that’s pretty much responsible for making the drums sound like John Bonham. So.: “The first one I got was a Sequential Circuits Pro One. depending on how his mood grabs him. that even someone who regularly sounds like John Lennon reincarnate.’ I didn’t even know what I was doing the first time I used it. like hip hop — it sounded awesome. The latest of which. But Dave was encouraging me to try a more versatile recording format. which is ultimately a good thing. There’s a lot of that on the album. and fell in love once he realised he “could make Tame Impala music with it”. ‘alright.if you’re doing it wrong. and it pretty much kicked off my love of synths. Not exactly the most spec’d out of interfaces. just debuted at #34 on the Billboard charts.” That ‘something else’ ended up being a copy of Ableton Live recommended by his friends because it was. I thought. it seems an odd choice of DAW platform for someone that’s mostly recording live psych rock. But he doesn’t see it that way. He doesn’t delve too deep into Ableton’s onboard synths though. “I just kept it until someone gave me something else to record with. It’s nice to know too. “I fell in love with it from the first moment I pressed down a key. he uses a lot of compression. the fact that you’re doing it wrong is going to make it sound different to how everyone else used it. Parker usually holds on to a Sennheiser 421. because “if it sounds good. then it’s going to give it a flavour different to everyone else that’s using the gear as it should be used. they would be treated to the typical Tame process of “putting it through some really crazy things. To him. You can only have respect for someone that goes completely his own way — technical proficiency be damned — yet still manages to release two of the most stimulating records of recent times. Lonerism. “I still love them. So I have a couple of vintage compressors.” As for vocals. I bought it just before working on Innerspeaker because I felt like I should get some boxes with knobs on them with the album budget. #14 in the UK. I’ll just go on eBay and get a vintage compressor. And he’s not worried about anyone judging him for a perceived lack of technical nous. and if he did. Fridmann.’ From the outside.” said Parker.” GOING LIVE Parker recorded Tame Impala’s first full-length Innerspeaker in a rented mansion entirely on a Boss 16-track digital recorder his dad bought him when he was 16.” said Parker. just to make it sound f**ked up. Parker: “Compressors are what make awesome drum sounds. hates his voice on record too: “I usually double track it because I hate the sound of my voice on its own. the typical sound of drums in a room is so loud that it’s “bad ass” and already compressed. and you can make electronic music and stuff. Then I got a Roland Juno 106 and one . got in his ear about upgrading after the first album. If you make it sound different in some way. With all this cosmic mangling of sound and makeshift technique. IT’S GOOD His total disregard for convention is admirable for a guy that’s been recording music since his childhood. but I put the drums through it and it sounded pumping. you’d think Parker would also be allergic to capturing natural sounds. “Sometimes he goes totally rogue and throws in a wild vocal delay that lasts for the rest of the song once it’s set off. this melody.” But he usually knocks up at least a rough mix to give Fridmann an idea of what he’s going for. he makes it sound 10 times better than I ever can. or whatever. also being the custodian of the Flaming Lips and MGMT mixes. I usually give him a drum mix to use.of those Radioshack synths. which is another thing that takes me so much more time than it should. The effects and sounds are pretty important to the song. That flanger coming in is just as important to the overall feeling of the song as a new lead melody or any other instrument part coming in. “I’ll spend weeks and weeks trying to get a good mix of the song that’s not even going to be used. It’s crazy and cosmic.” . about halfway through Mind Mischief. cool. who Parker also plays drums for. so far I’ve been really good friends with the people whose music I’ve mixed/produced. “I’ll do a mix of the song as best I can with all the weird shit that I’m dreaming about. The issue is finding the balance between creative sonic arrangement and listenability. seeing as Pond has intentions to release albums every six months for the foreseeable future.” ROUGH MIX David Fridmann. so that makes it pretty fun… not having to think artistically and just being the guy with the hands on the knobs and switches. sometimes post-‘me messing with it’.” SELF TURNED PRODUCER Ironically. so they totally influence the evolution of it. After all the effects and everything they can both end up in the same place. ‘Alright. but the way the sound is produced makes you think a bit differently about how you’re going to play these chords. Good friends. a giant sweeping flanger falls over the whole mix. “And messing with sounds is easily my biggest hobby. I don’t even know why I do it. Parker’s production and mixing skills are now sought after by like-minded artists. so we already have a great communication about music and sounds.” said Parker. I just love the way they have this completely different origin of sound to something like a guitar. Pond. And his latest efforts for Melody’s Echo Chamber have so far been highly rated. They have this laser beam kind of sound that makes me want to cry every time I hear a chord played.” he said. it’s at this moment that the chords change and it gets really emotional for me. Whatever it is that he’s doing. but obviously also for his incredible ear for what sounds good. and with crunch and groove in all the right places. “Luckily. Parker supplies Fridmann with the tracks in a state that’s “sometimes totally raw. but still listenable. “When I play it to Dave he says. but in a way that’s so much more dynamic. and experimental nature. Particularly for his drum sounds. I usually start adding those kinds of things while I’m still writing the song. have got him turning the knobs. Which could be a very regular gig. But what the f**k is that flange on the whole mix?’ My methods usually aren’t conducive to a ‘pleasant’ sounding mix. and I usually get what they’re trying to do. He usually replicates it. is the perfect engineer to harness Tame Impala’s cosmic energy. and the individual drums if he wants to poke them in there. For example. Currents. Because they’re the sounds I remember from when I was growing up in the ’90s. All I had last time was a Roland Juno 106 and a Sequential Circuits Pro One. like a digital clav. glistening FM synth electro Rhodes. Those plasticky sounds are far more nostalgic and hit a deeper spot for me than hearing a vintage Fender twin.” explained Tame Impala frontman. plasticky sounds. the Boyz II Men R&B drum machine and ’verby claps on Love Paranoia. squashed drums was probably the most identifiable part of Tame Impala’s breakthrough album Innerspeaker. settling in for a chat. and the chiming clarity of digital synths throughout. they sound deeply fulfilling.Kevin Parker goes ‘old school’ and mixes Currents himself. Aside from those catchy psych-pop melodies. Even though they’re sort of cheap sounds. Kevin Parker.” For anyone that’s followed Parker’s trajectory. “Decompressing… no pun intended. An audiophile would think some of the patches are the cheapest. the sound of lo-fi. trades on a newer sort of nostalgia. compression is no joke. the legacy of Tame Impala continued to be built on that specific kind of nostalgia. The sounds that remind me of something I heard on the radio in the car. and Dunlop fuzz guitars. There’s a lot of that on the album. saving up for Juno 106s on eBay. “I got a few new keyboards. and asking forums . I’ve got a Roland JV1080 synth module you can plug a MIDI keyboard into. one that — as a teen of the ’90s — resonates more personally for Parker. “I fell in love with those naff ’90s-sounding keyboards. The latest album. And even though the second album Lonerism felt harder to lump in as psych rock. Lennon-esque dreamy falsetto. Story: Mark Davie Artist: Tame Impala Album: Currents “Just got back from tour. You can hear it in the hard-ended repetitions of a scratched CD stuck in a loop on lead track Let It Happen.” It’s a tough break for those young producers who’ve toiled over their Tame Impala emulations: Tea towels on kits. “That’s the truest kind of nostalgia I can find.” said Parker. But for me they’re so romantically nostalgic. finding a balance between lo-fi and his own teenage nostalgia. Now they’re going to have to contend with an inflated market for Roland JV1080s. Just like those ‘lucky’ electronic producers. record. Probably most well-known for producing and mixing The Flaming Lips. The demo-in-a-day deal market has shrunk with the rise of a growing contentedness to wile away at the process rather than feel forced to produce in a short window. and pedal board purchase. and so many more. When Parker handed the mix for Tame Impala’s second album.whether a dbx 160A would substitute for a dbx 160VU. he’s also leant psychedelic weight to Mercury Rev. fearlessly experimental and not afraid to go for colour. Sparklehorse. he justified the case for aspiring rockers to forgo the usual band-in-a-studio route. Mogwai. IN-HOUSE MIX While flying completely solo looks nice on paper. and mix at home. and . to Fridmann. For his latest album. Lonerism. one name (outside their own) they’d be happy to see on the mix credit is Dave Fridmann’s. Currents. But it hasn’t stopped leagues of musicians trying to emulate his every sound. In fact. The ideal for a lot of bedroom producers who like the idea of rock ’n’ roll. Parker decided to take back the reins and do the whole thing himself. He’s mixed his own music before. play. for this generation of psych rock- acquainted bedroom producers. MGMT. that combo became the benchmark for this crowd. Parker is the modern home studio poster boy. but don’t necessarily want to deal with band politics when it comes to writing songs. image. Fridmann is the hero of indie psych-rock mixing. not everyone is Kevin Parker. and play everything into a DAW themselves. Of course. no one else is. Dave is an amazing mix engineer. and Dave Fridmann-y.done the same for Pond and Melody’s Echo Chamber. so deep-fried. “Julian. and doesn’t sacrifice the impact the mix has. Gear only a professional would use. “I’ve got my own experience of mixing that I’ve been getting better and better at over the years. my drum sounds.” “They’re the sounds I remember from when I was growing up in the ’90s. “I still do things that would be laughable to professional recording engineers. But it’s so much more elusive that that. recording vocals with a mic wired out of phase. If you could put it into words. And I thought he’d gone to an extremely professional studio in France. is the most important thing. But then he told me he did it all in Garageband. The drums can be absolutely swampy and sizzling. Which. I’ve got my mixing style. there are no rules. it doesn’t really matter. It’s the way his sound is so crispy and cooked. “Naturally it’s all those nuances you can’t properly describe that he does so well. “People generally pass that off as an easily attainable thing. but at the same time. the other drummer in Tame. awesome. unless it was something as important as . It’s mainly instinct that I’m going on.” he laughs. It sounded amazing.” Taking on the mix was as much about gauging his current ability to pull it off. and filtering whole sections — but at the same time trying to get the drums to sound classic. he played me this album the other day. says Parker. But this time he stepped up his professional attitude. To me it justifies the way I do it in a sense. plugging mics into the ‘wrong’ inputs. I just wanted to see if I could do it myself. In the end. that would mean you could probably copy it really easily. “It was more like a leap of faith. as it was an excuse to get some new gear. I have a disturbed pride in the fact I don’t do it like everyone else.” said Parker. it felt like an altogether different way of mixing anyway. I was combining things usually done in the electronic world — like looping whole sections of the mix while leaving others unlooped on top. I don’t do it in Pro Tools. and effects I use. It’s the world we live in these days. That’s the truest kind of nostalgia I can find” A NEW PHASE When we last talked to Parker. you know.” Fridmann-y is a difficult adjective to describe. I just have to hope that it comes out sounding listenable. yet at the same time hit you right in the chest. “It was a good excuse to buy stuff I could never justify getting. just drive it through a preamp and slap a limiter on it. but taking over after such success with Fridmann must have required a newfound confidence. he was revelling in his relative engineering naiveté. But to me it feels good that I’m a bit rogue. That’s the elusive paradox that he’s nailed. Even as I was doing it myself I found that I was pretending to be him. “That’s not to say it was all the way there. “Because of the sound and the way the songs were coming together. “It wasn’t even really confidence. so punchy. I couldn’t believe it. for me. You only realise how much of an artform that is when you try to do it yourself. It’s against how I’ve grown up working. The whole point of it is that you can link anything to anything. and the automation is amazing. It goes completely against my workflow to have to set up for one song by going around the room and setting EQ knobs on a desk and adjusting faders to how the mix was last time.” It’s a big step up from “just whatever plug-in in Ableton” he used to place over his master bus. the one piece he’s had for a while and is “just like a glorified EQ that adds a bit of artificial valve quality. it seems so laborious. and I can move almost as quick as my brain is moving. I flit between songs. It sounds selfish. That’s no knock on Ableton though. Parker is still a dedicated Live user. He’s always had outboard channel compressors. Everyone barracks for their favourite. then an SPL Vitalizer. The basis of it is just so flexible. but never pressed them into service over his whole mix. so it allows Parker to leave it set up and return to any mix at will. I’m not a professional studio owner.” said Parker. But for me. The sum of the 16 stereo channels hits a pair of Neve 1073DPA preamps first to “crunch the mix up” and make up gain. The gear doesn’t see any use other than for mixing. “I’ve always loved mixing with Ableton. which demonstrates how versatile it is. sometimes every few minutes. “It’s ultimately just what you’re used to. When I’ve been standing over someone’s shoulder watching them use Pro Tools to automate stuff. It doesn’t want you to change things that are so easy to change on Ableton. “But I love the sound of a mix being crunched together in analogue. He bought two 16-channel Lynx Aurora converters that feed a pair of passive 16-channel RMS216 Folcrom passive summing mixers. who lives off mixing people’s albums.” The main adjustment to his mixing routine has been an analogue summing setup that takes that task out of Ableton Live’s hands and adds a bit of colour to the stereo bus. I love the sound of a desk. but I hate not being able to recall any time I want. So I’ve never really bought gear that is just involved in mixing. “I make our live shows on Ableton as well.” . It doesn’t want you to automate. I find Live so expressive.mixing my own album. like a football team.” The last thing strapped across the master bus is a Manley Vari-Mu compressor before it gets fed back into the DAW to print. ” As for mics this time. I just recorded a bunch in a row. Parker wasn’t that fussed about sticking to a set routine. then I’ll just say. with a different hand position each time and put them all together at . I’m in love with the Sequential Circuits Drum Tracks drum machine. I’m not precious. for drums and vocals. a sampler on Ableton with something deep and woofy for the kick.” said Parker. where he has two rooms joined. I recorded a lot of claps myself and used them as a set sample. it really just comes down to how set up the studio is at the time I’m inspired. Between several mics to just one. “The kick is a vintage Tama kick I’ve had forever. If I’m inspired to record some drums and there’s only one mic there. the other houses his ‘mongrel of a kit’. “Parts of it are from my old ’60s Ludwig I used on Lonerism. “A lot of the drums were a cross between the real kit. I used a Shure SM7 on a lot of stuff. “It was a bit of a range this time. it’s my favourite drum machine. and some drum machine sounds.’ Just record it with one mic and go with it.HYBRID DRUMS Parker recorded Currents in his home studio. ‘f**k it. one acting as a control room. I used a multi-band compressor and followed the middle band. Parker uses his go-to guitar signal chain: “It’s the same pedal chain I’ve had for ages. I tuned my car stereo to an AM station that wasn’t an actual channel. So when I mixed it. They didn’t make very many. “I’ve always tried to make things hi-fi. wobbly and crusty instantly transports you. he’ll just dial up the nostalgia in the intros and verses to lull your ears. when they kick in. I try and get the best combination so it sounds the most feel good. spaced slightly apart. the less elements you have in it. bass riff. and turning the first half of Disciples into a radio pop single from the ’50s. ‘party times’. I can’t find anything that’s got the same kind of sizzle to it. Similar to how mix engineers often make the chorus wider. reverb. a bass synth. and it’s not even very good quality. I DI all guitars… I haven’t used an amp in years. but it was the whole sound.” Already a master of nostalgia. Anything lo-fi. then the guitar that comes in is totally crusty and boxy sounding. but juxtaposing sounds that are super clean and super crisp. It makes it sound more like I’ve sampled something and put it in there. and maybe a high-quality drum machine. and a synth that’s escalating in pitch to add some tension. ‘ok. recorded the static and mixed that in. so it had that compressed.once. While it was wrong to pigeon-hole Lonerism as just psych rock. boxed- in sound. this is what I’m listening to. It’s like. If you try and make a heavy riff with seven guitars. it really just muddies it up and loses impact. pleasurable thing. Parker is using lo-fi elements as a transition effect. three different types of synth. it’s like this sensory. I love that kind of juxtaposition of sound quality.” TRANSITIONING OUT OF LO-FI These days. because your ears adjust to that set of spectrum. but for some reason. I’ve used that effect. in the way that hip hop has this really high-quality vocal. a bit of compression. they’re always the most instantly cinematic. I find that when you try and make something heavy. Currents is completely new ground for Tame Impala that feels vaguely familiar.” There are some heavy riffs on the record. band-passing the drums and guitar intro on The Less I Know Better. a bit of overdrive. and a bass guitar. I love switching between the two. rather than layering lots of parts. the song suddenly opens up. To me. . especially the one that pounds out the choruses in the otherwise dream poppy Eventually.” For guitar recording. When you turn it off. I just lopped everything past that point to make the whole track sound like it was coming out of an AM radio. But. In the past. At the same time I’ve always loved lo-fi sounds. but I just haven’t had the ability. But this time I’ve been embracing different kinds of textures. Someone told me that AM didn’t have anything past 6kHz.’ Your ears forget about the sub and the super top. Parker: “For the static on Disciples. It happens a few times across the record. I was obsessed with that idea. I have this Seymour Duncan rack preamp that I love. “Not just lo-fi sounds. before hitting them with the power of a full-spectrum sound. “It’s just a guitar riff. Parker says. And all of a sudden. this new sort Parker has added to his sonic repertoire perfectly complements the eclectic nature of his new material. the bigger it sounds.